Attacking.

[frederikmumma]

My little kitty is 7 months old and desexed I know biting and pouncing is a form of play for them but he is beginning to get vicious towards me loves my boyfriend hates me.
He leaves the room when I walk in or he will sit far away and if he does come close he will pin his ears back and will stare until he latches on to my arm leg head what ever he can get a hold of. There have been a few times where he has broken skin and bruised me. I've tried a lot of things, leaving the room saying no, distracting him with a toy, nothing works. He used to be so sweet and loving and always wanted cuddles now he is not nice at all.
My boyfriend thinks it's some dominance type thing, please help.

 

[di and bob]

You have to be very consistent when dealing with something like this,  when he first starts to attack say 'NO' very loudly or growl like a mother cat. The idea is to startle him.  Then leave the room or put him in a small room to give him a 5 minute time out. Longer then that will not do because he will forget what happened in longer that amount of time. You will have to become good at spotting his intentions to attack, a swishing or bristling tail, pupils dilating, or staring at you intently, THEN is the time to turn your back and slowly walk away.If you have ever seen two toms meeting up they always move like they are in slow motion, trying not to provoke the other into attacking with quick movements.  Try to get on his good side by offering yummy treats, it will give him something positive to think about you. I hope everything turns out all right, he is awfully young yet and without a mother there to put limits on his roughhousing, YOU have to be it! I know he will calm down with age, GOOD LUCK!

 

[frederikmumma]

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You have to be very consistent when dealing with something like this,  when he first starts to attack say 'NO' very loudly or growl like a mother cat. The idea is to startle him.  Then leave the room or put him in a small room to give him a 5 minute time out. Longer then that will not do because he will forget what happened in longer that amount of time. You will have to become good at spotting his intentions to attack, a swishing or bristling tail, pupils dilating, or staring at you intently, THEN is the time to turn your back and slowly walk away.If you have ever seen two toms meeting up they always move like they are in slow motion, trying not to provoke the other into attacking with quick movements.  Try to get on his good side by offering yummy treats, it will give him something positive to think about you. I hope everything turns out all right, he is awfully young yet and without a mother there to put limits on his roughhousing, YOU have to be it! I know he will calm down with age, GOOD LUCK!

I do this [emoji]128542[/emoji] and I know all the signs very well I say no really loud and growl and none of these things faze him. I also am the only one who feeds him so we have good experiences together but it's still me he picks on.
He was a stray at a very young age so we don't know if mum left early or if he even had litter mates.

 

[roguethecat]

 
You have to be very consistent when dealing with something like this,  when he first starts to attack say 'NO' very loudly or growl like a mother cat. The idea is to startle him.  Then leave the room or put him in a small room to give him a 5 minute time out. Longer then that will not do because he will forget what happened in longer that amount of time. You will have to become good at spotting his intentions to attack, a swishing or bristling tail, pupils dilating, or staring at you intently, THEN is the time to turn your back and slowly walk away.If you have ever seen two toms meeting up they always move like they are in slow motion, trying not to provoke the other into attacking with quick movements.  Try to get on his good side by offering yummy treats, it will give him something positive to think about you. I hope everything turns out all right, he is awfully young yet and without a mother there to put limits on his roughhousing, YOU have to be it! I know he will calm down with age, GOOD LUCK!

uh-oh... the Rogue is the same, only attacking his little brother instead of me. 

All my fault because of bad cat parenting (I'm unable to use any disciplinary methods other than holding him tight and hoping he'll calm down)

 Once I actually stuffed him into my garage for time-out and felt miserable about it. It didn't help any (he likes being in the garage and sliding down the hood of my car, making prints all over).

What I'm doing when I notice the Rogue getting into attack mode is trying to distract him with some toys.

It's really just him being bored. What also helped a lot was finally deciding to let him outside, as he did escape outside on his own anyway.

So my humble advice here is, toys, toys, and more interactive toys. If a second cat to play with is out of the question, maybe some cat videos, bird feeder outside, or even some crickets.

 

[mservant]

You say your cat loves your boyfriend and hates you.  You feed the cat, and that your cat used to be cuddly and loving.

A couple of thoughts.

Did the behaviour start up only after he went for his neutering operation?  If so it's worth checking with the vet in case there is any pain or problem since the surgery.   It could also be your cat has a good memory and his trip to the vet was something he got frightened by - now needs to build up some trust with you again if it was you that took him there.

Do you play regularly with your cat or only occasionally, and do the attacks happen before or after play?  It might be pent up energy and he wants to be more active and burn off some energy with you as his play mate - might be he loves you more than you think here....   

Does he usually attack when you are stationary or on the move?  Again, thinking whether he is looking to play bored or is hyper alert and any movement tends to trigger an attack play response.  

Does it make any difference what you are wearing, if you have been out for a long time, or might smell differently at different times?

It can be really hard figuring out why your cat is behaving in a particular way but once you get there it is much easier to find a way to change the things they are doing which you do not like. Cats think differently to people, and remember things in different ways so the important thing to remember is try and get in to his mind and not be stuck on your own feelings.  

I hope you get it sorted.  It does take time, consistency and patience but like everyone else has said, you can get through this.  Honestly, Mouse used to scare me to bits sometimes but with a few months of serious work to understand him and stay calm when he was hyper we got there.   He wanted to bounce at anything that moved -  or might do, but learned biting me was not OK and transformed in to the cuddlist critter you could wish for as long as he always had a chance to run off his excess energy.